Friday, February 25, 2011

Let 'em bake cake!

Government yard sale could
help bring down national debt

  With the government more than $14 trillion in debt  and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warning that the longer Congress waits to raise the debt ceiling the harder it will be for the Treasury Department to keep the government operating, some have suggested Congress take a note from Sanford and Son and start selling the junk it already owns.

So what kinds of crap can we sell off?


GUMMINT-YARD-SALE

The federal government reportedly owns more than one fourth of the land in the United States. According to the “Budget of the U.S. Government for FY2010,” at the end of FY 2008, the federal government held $767 billion in land, and $421 billion in “mineral rights.”
  • In addition to land, the Office of Budget and Management reports that Uncle Sam also owns more than $1.17 trillion in fixed reproducible capital (things like buildings and machinery) and $290 billion in inventory.
  • “The GAO also notes that the federal government has ‘many assets it does not need,’ including billions of dollars worth of excess and vacant buildings.
  •  If the government were to sell off their General Motors shares it could bring in an estimated $18 billion. Further, ATR suggests that the government make GM repay the $30 billion it got from Troubled Asset Relief Program and leave the estimated $168 billion in remaining “stimulus” dollars unspent.
Puh-leeeeze,  Don't get me started.  Okay, they already did.

 Let's begin by reversing stupid-as-hell EO, like Clinton's that took out largest deposit of clean burning coal off the market; or Obama's, that's shut down oil drilling everywhere. It will do little good to sell everything, but hamstring the entrepreneurial spirit with insane energy and enviro law.   But, let's face it.  This bankruptcy we face is only a symptom of the much larger root problem. 

The Easy-Bake Oven loses its soul

That would be government that causes stuff like this. Get rid of that government, or pound sand.


10 comments:

El Jefe said...

How much do we owe China? Doesn't matter. Here's how we 'pay them back':

Trade them the Hawaiian islands for the IOU.

Those rat-bastards won't assimilate or release ze papers.

Done and dusted.

TimO said...

I thought the Japanese already owned the bulk of Hawaii since the 1980s...

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, just wonderin if they'll sell me the local post office, with trucks and all and I flip it to UPS? Or pickup the local Amtrak, along with a few trains and flip it to Union Pacific? And everyone wins!

olds-mo-william

Anonymous said...

The trouble with suggestions like this is that the current Administration wil not do it. If it did, it would help them stay in office after 2012, but they won't do it. It will remain for the next president to do it, and that will likely be a Republican. Actually, there are MANY things the next president can and should do, including shut down the Energy and Education Departments, circumcise EPA,and many others. I hope the next administration sets up Tiger Teams to get into each department after the 2012 election, and come up with a laundry list of things to attack. Then, on January 20, 2013, they can all be implimented immediately.

Skoonj

Anonymous said...

Palin, et al, have the right idea: develop our energy resources to create wealth, decrease the amount we send overseas, create good paying jobs and lesser paying support jobs while increasing government revenues from mineral rights and income taxes.

At the same time, end all farm subsidies starting with ethanol ones while re-opening the Central Valley . This should have an immediate effect on food prices which are one of the driving forces of unrest in Africa and the Middle East.

Never happen because they are the logical first steps.

Laurence

Anonymous said...

After the Democrat/government sponsored sub prime mortgage debacle and the resultant market crash and housing devaluation, after the Dem/government sponsored strangulation of business and the resultant job loss, after the coming inflation ruins any long term savings prudent citizens may have had, who the hell in the USA will have any money to buy all that stuff?
If US citizens spend every dime we have on that stuff, we wouldn't even pay for this year's Federal budget. The only answer is for drastic surgery and fumigation of the Federal government, including Medicare and Social Security, and likewise for state and local governments and their public employee pensions.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Kristophr said...

Rodge: They will just paint the lightbulbs so only heat escapes.

And charge parents an arm and a leg for Chinese made black painted lightbulbs.

Anonymous said...

We have waaaay too many politicians; we could sell them.
Problem is, they're worthless.

Steve in Greensboro said...

Let's buy Mt. Rushmore and make a slight change.

Recarve Teddy Roosevelt into Ronald Reagan.

DougM said...

1. One-time sales of assets don't solve long-term deficit spending.
2. Sales require customers with money.
3. Not all buyers of the real estate will be Americans.

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